City is turning the tide on women and children abuse

28 November 2016

 

The City of Johannesburg’s move to turn the 16 Days of Activism for No Violence Against Women and Children campaign into 365 days of combating gender-based violence and abuse has over the past two years resulted in the empowerment of a significant number of vulnerable individuals.

 

This is according to a report released by the office of the Member of the Mayoral Committee for Health and Social Development, Cllr Mpho Phalatse.

The 16 Days of Activism for No Violence Against Women and Children campaign is observed annually from November 25 (International Day of Women) and December 10 (International Human Rights Day). The City made it a year-long drive to address and combat gender-based violence and abuse.

The campaign seeks to create and maintain an environment in which women and children in Johannesburg feel safe and secure at all times. It is also in response to the City’s Growth and Development Strategy 2040’s outcome one, which calls for the delivery of improved quality of life, development-driven resilience and a safe and secure city for all.

The report, which details the City’s Prevention and Intervention Strategy for Violence Reduction, reveals that regional support and outreach programmes during the 2015-2016 financial year have assisted in the empowerment and information upliftment of more than 17 000 vulnerable people, including young women, women, senior citizens, children and men.

The 2015-2016 financial year’s focus was largely on senior citizens, who are often abused mainly because of dementia and the communities’ lack of understanding of the condition.

To educate communities about dementia, the City embarked on an extensive awareness programme in partnership with the Healthy Ageing Society of South Africa and Dementia SA that reached 9 495 senior citizens and several women and men’s forums across the city.

Ten men’s forums were established in the city. The forums have a total of more than 110 male ambassadors who hold dialogues and act as role models against violence and the abuse of women and children.

Through these forums 2 422 men were reached in the 2015-2016 financial year alone. These forums are now linked to the Gauteng Men’s Forum.

Young women also benefited from the City’s 365 Programme through the Young Women’s Programme, launched in January 2015 to empower young women with skills to improve their lives. About 400 young women were enrolled on the programme. Of these, 298 completed their courses and 199 were placed in permanent employment.

The 2016 Young Women’s Programme resulted in 111 completing their courses, with 30 women placed in permanent positions.

“During the programme it became clear that there were so many undealt with issues with these young women that they will also have to go through an inner-healing process. A non-governmental organisation called Peace Circle assisted with inner-healing,” says Carina van Zyl, Head of the Women and the Elderly Unit in the City’s Health and Social Development Department.

Van Zyl says the 2016-2017 Young Women’s Programme, which is currently in progress, has an enrolment capacity of 252.